This is the scenario as it was reported:
1. The Notification Server was upgraded to ITMS 8.6 RU2 recently.
2. Trying to setup new client machines by sending the usual installation policies for the desired plug-ins.
3. Everything goes smoothly until it is the turn for the Inventory plug-in (8.6.3268 version) task to install. It runs and the customer gets a "run failed" status. This is happening just to some client machines.
4. If you run the Inventory plug-in MSI manually, it installs just fine.
5. The agent logs (attached here with verbosity turned on as well) show things like these (the customer cloned the Inventory plug-in install policy twice just to make sure it was not something wrong with the first one):
Program 'Test of Inventory Plug-in Install' completed. Exit code=1. Execution context='Administrator'. RunAs='\'
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Date: 6/20/2022 12:55:00 PM, Tick Count: 1113015937 (12.21:10:15.9370000), Size: 341 B
Process: AeXNSAgent.exe (1800), Thread ID: 14768, Module: smfagent.dll
Priority: 4, Source: ProgramExec
Advert 'Inventory Plug-in for Windows Install (x64)' {8C055B3A-653D-40A0-8666-5C9B604A8872} NOT active and has already executed. Package 'Inventory Plug-in for Windows Package (x64)' {5864027D-DA99-4430-9183-4EFF8B362383} might be set to expired...
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Date: 6/20/2022 1:14:33 PM, Tick Count: 1114188828 (12.21:29:48.8280000), Size: 489 B
Process: AeXNSAgent.exe (1800), Thread ID: 14428, Module: smfagent.dll
Priority: 16, Source: CleanupExpiredPackages
Package 'Inventory Plug-in for Windows Package (x64)' {5864027D-DA99-4430-9183-4EFF8B362383} is used in the advert 'Test of Inventory Plug-in Install' {B8B58D3D-2937-40D7-8BB0-1336C2E45E48}...
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Date: 6/20/2022 1:14:33 PM, Tick Count: 1114188828 (12.21:29:48.8280000), Size: 433 B
Process: AeXNSAgent.exe (1800), Thread ID: 14428, Module: smfagent.dll
Priority: 16, Source: CleanupExpiredPackages
6. The "log.txt" generated (usually under "C:\Program Files\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Agents\SoftwareManagement\Software Delivery\{5864027D-DA99-4430-9183-4EFF8B362383}\cache") when the install batch runs says the following:
started "Symantec_InventoryAgent_x64.msi" installation
started setting variables
stopped setting variables
started setting INV_AGENT_PATH
INV_AGENT_PATH = ""
started MSIEXE /i command
stopped MSIEXE /i "Symantec_InventoryAgent_x64.msi" /qn REBOOT=ReallySuppress ALLUSERS=1 command, error code = 1
exiting
Final error code = 1
7. If you run the following on a command prompt, the Inventory plug-in installs just fine:
MSIEXE /i "Symantec_InventoryAgent_x64.msi" /qn REBOOT=ReallySuppress ALLUSERS=1
ITMS 8.5, 8.6
The problem is in the installation BAT file (InstallInvAgent.bat usually under "C:\Program Files\Altiris\Altiris Agent\Agents\SoftwareManagement\Software Delivery\{5864027D-DA99-4430-9183-4EFF8B362383}\cache" on the client machine or under the original package: "C:\Program Files\Altiris\Notification Server\NSCap\bin\Win64\x64\Inventory\Agent Package"). The installation itself finishes just fine, it is the script that passes the incorrect exit code.
This issue has been reported to our Broadcom Development team. A fix has been added to our ITMS 8.6 RU3 release and later.
A workaround is to replace the original InstallInvAgent.bat with the attached one in this article and try manually to install the Inventory plug-in (just to make sure it works for you on those specific machines):